The Federal Bureau of Investigation is among several intelligence agencies in the United States that have expressed concerns about an alleged Russian campaign to destabilize November’s presidential elections. The Washington Post, which revealed the FBI’s concerns on Monday, claimed that Moscow recently launched an “active measures” operation aimed at covertly sabotaging the integrity of the US election process. Russia’s goal, said the paper, was to “counter US leadership and influence in international affairs”, thus subverting America’s image, especially in countries of the former Eastern Bloc or former Soviet republics.
According to The Post, the FBI
and other US intelligence agencies have “no definitive proof” that
Moscow is attempting to promote public distrust in American political
institutions. But there are strong indications that have made this topic
“a priority” for intelligence officials from the FBI, the Department of
Homeland Security, the National Security Agency and the Central
Intelligence Agency, said the paper. These indications include the hack
of the computer systems at the Democratic National Committee, the
official governing body of the US Democratic Party, which was revealed
in June. The hack resulted in the disclosure of over 20,000 internal
emails and led to the resignation of Debbie Wasserman-Schultz, the DNC’s
Chairwoman. According to The Post, the hack is “not yet
officially ascribed by the US government to Russia”, but US intelligence
officials are convinced that Moscow was behind it.
The DNC hack prompted the FBI to send a
so-called “flash alert” to US election officials in July, urging them to
remain vigilant against “attempts to penetrate election systems”, which
have been detected in several states, according to the report. The
unprecedented FBI alert did not expressly name Russia as a
national-security threat, nor did it give details of electoral sabotage.
But it urged state election officials to “be on the lookout for
intrusions into their election systems”. Citing unnamed intelligence
officials, The Post said that the investigation into alleged
Russian operations against the US Presidential election is being
coordinated by James Clapper, the US Director of National Intelligence.
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